Fuel prices P5 higher than in NCR

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — Energy Department officials, after unannounced visits in various fuel stations in the city Wednesday and Thursday, discovered and were surprised to find that prices of petroleum products here are higher by P5 than those in Metro Manila or the National Capital Region.

Energy Undersecretary Jose Layug Jr. said, "So far based on our own inspections of about 15 fuel stations here, there is a difference of between P4.50 and P5 in oil prices in Bacolod and Metro Manila."

Layug conducted the price monitoring with the DOE Legal Team and DOE-6 regional director Antonio Labios.

In a press conference Thursday, Layug said they decided to conduct unannounced monitoring of fuel prices in Bacolod after receiving a report from an undisclosed radio station last month about the high disparity of prices here compared to those in Manila and other cities.

The price difference was however not P8, as reported, but about P5 that was consistent also in other areas or in the outskirt barangays of Bacolod," he said.

Layug said they were also surprised that prices of diesel, gasoline and kerosene in all fuel stations in Bacolod are practically the same, although he did not categorically say there might be connivance among big and small oil companies.

He said he will ask the oil companies why there is no price difference among themselves. "In NCR, for example, in every area, the fuel stations have price difference. Like in Pasig, the prices are P1 lower than in Makati. I don't see that in Bacolod. So I need to understand the demography and the geography here," he said.

Layug met with various transport groups in Bacolod yesterday and they requested the DOE to make the price of oil in Bacolod at par with Manila. "So what we committed to do at the DOE is to ask all oil companies the reason behind the differences in pricing," he said.

The DOE team also met with representatives of oil companies here and asked them to submit a written explanation why their price difference is about P5.

Layug told the transport groups that the DOE needs to understand first the oil firm's bases for making that P4.50- to P5-difference. "Because if you make a distinction between Bacolod and Manila, I'm assuming part of that difference in prices is transport," he said.

Layug said what the DOE can do probably is to appeal to oil companies to lower their prices, and usually when they do so in NCR, the oil companies consider their appeal.

"Certainly we will request them to lower the prices. But over and above that I think we all understand that we are in a deregulated industry so if ever we will consider a legal action we need to make sure we have sufficient basis to question the pricing," he said.

In other words, we need to prove there is unfair competition and anti-trust behavior–that requires factual determination and we don't have that yet, he said.

During their price monitoring, Layug also observed that only a few gas stations here grant fuel discounts of P1 to select areas, unlike in NCR. He said he will also tell the oil companies to give fuel discounts.

The issue on fuel price difference was first raised in 2009 by the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bacolod City Council, the transport sector, and the Negros Occidental provincial government.

In a related development, Layug said Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras is expected to come to the city on February 25 to also discuss with local officials the problem on fuel price difference, among other concerns. (FREEMAN)